Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

A Vicious Cycle: How Racialised Moral Panics Simultaneously Reproduce (And Are Reproduced By) Repressive Policing Practices, Oscar D. Sharples

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Policing and moral panics exist in a mutually reinforcing, reciprocal relationship, the harmful outcomes of which are disproportionately directed towards poor communities of colour. This paper will draw on two examples of moral panics: those surrounding Islamic terrorism and Black crime, in order to illustrate the harm that this reinforcing relationship can cause. This harm manifests itself in increasingly restrictive antiterrorism laws, Prevent initiatives, racial profiling, and internal surveillance within the Muslim community; as well as the policies of Joint Enterprise, Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs), and the strengthening of the school-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionally target Black youth. With reference …

White Vigilantism And The Racism Of Race-Neutrality, Christian Sundquist

Articles

Race-neutrality has long been touted in American law as central to promoting racial equality while guarding against race-based discrimination. And yet the legal doctrine of race-neutrality has perversely operated to shield claims of racial discrimination from judicial review while protecting discriminators from liability and punishment. This Article critiques the doctrine of race-neutrality by examining the law’s response to white vigilantism in the much-publicized criminal trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and that of Ahmaud Arbery’s assailants.

Racialized Reality: Crime News And Racial Stereotype Framing, Warrington Sebree

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that crime news is a primary mechanism for shaping public consciousness surrounding legal order, social morality, and threats present in their citizens communities. This research explores how news media influences negative attitudes towards criminal justice reform and Black identity. Utilizing Framing Theory, this study focuses on whether negative stereotypes in crime news triggers racial prejudice and bias towards African Americans. Participants of this study will consist of current students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The findings suggest that knowing the race of a potential criminal assailant influences respondents’ attitudes towards presumptions of guilt, future criminality, and criminal …

Public-School Systems Are Criminalizing Our Young People: Giving Voice To The Marganilized, Carrie Stoltzfus

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

A phenomenological qualitative study using Critical Race Theory and counter-storytelling was completed to investigate what K-12 public schools should be doing to keep young people out of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). This study took place in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Interviews were completed with former students of the researcher who were previously incarcerated, educational professionals, and justice system professionals. Additionally, observations of the court systems and document reviews were completed in order to triangulate findings. Themes emerged around factors that lead to incarceration and the preferred practices to support young people to avoid …

Are Opinions On Abortion Based On Racial Attitudes?, Ashley Mueller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My specific research question that I will be addressing through my Honors Research Project is; Does one’s race influence their opinions and criminalization of abortion in the United States? In addition to this question I will be discussing if these views have changed over time depending on race, and how their backgrounds, due to their race, may differentiate these views.

Acting Black: An Analysis Of Blackness And Criminality In Film, Blake Edwards

Master's Theses

This thesis will attempt to answer how films deal with blackness and crime, specifically when intersecting with the concepts of exploitation, appropriation, whiteness and the criminality of the black body. While not entirely the root of the negative perceptions of African-Americans in the United States, the manner in which African-Americans are portrayed in motion picture media influences how their presence is seen in society. This thesis will examine specific films that include elements dealing with the listed factors and what effects they may or may not have.

Bias-Motivated Homicides: Toward A New Typology, Lindsey Sank Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite significant progress towards equal protection under the law for women, LGBT individuals, and people of color in the United States, hate crime remains a pervasive problem, and rates appear to have increased in recent years. Bias-motivated homicide – arguably the most serious form of hate crime – is statistically rare but may have far-reaching consequences for marginalized communities. Data from the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey have suggested that, on average, fewer than 10 bias-motivated homicides occur in the United States per year; however, data from open sources indicate that the rate of bias-motivated homicide …

Push Comes To Shove: Supporting Patrons Of Color In Your Institution, Kristyn Caragher, Aisha Conner-Gaten, Tracy Drake, Tonyia Tidline

Aisha Conner-Gaten

The Loving Story: Using A Documentary To Reconsider The Status Of An Iconic Interracial Married Couple, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

The Loving Story (Augusta Films 2011), directed by Nancy Buirski, tells the backstory of the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, that overturned state laws barring interracial marriage. The article looks to the documentary to explain why the Lovings should be considered icons of racial and ethnic civil rights, however much they might be associated with marriage equality today. The film shows the Lovings to be ordinary people who took their nearly decade long struggle against white supremacy to the nation’s highest court out of a genuine commitment to each other and a determination to live in …

Repensando A Violência Policial No Brasil: Desmascarando O Segredo Público Da Raça*, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Nas cidades brasileiras, talvez a atividade criminosa mais perturbadora seja a violência perpetrada pelos próprios agentes policiais. Este artigo é um convite e uma provocação à reconsiderar o pensamento científico social sobre a violência policial no Brasil. Ilustrado pela decisão judicial de uma cidade nordestina, na qual um homem negro venceu um processo contra o Estado por ter sido ilegalmente preso e abusado por um policial negro devido a racismo, este artigo investiga três paradoxos: brasileiros temem tanto a polícia quanto a criminalidade; policiais negros atacam cidadãos negros; e oficiais do governo negam responsabilidade ao estigmatizar a polícia por motivos …

Institutional Racism: Perspectives On The Department Of Justice's Investigation Of The Ferguson Police Department., Cassandra Chaney Phd

Faculty Publications

On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18-year old Black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white policeman with the Ferguson Police Department. The incident sparked protests and acts of vandalism in Ferguson as well as widespread calls for an investigation into the incident. On September 3, 2014, The Justice Department announced that it would open a broad civil rights investigation that would examine whether the Ferguson police had a history of discrimination or misuse of force beyond the Michael Brown case. On March 4. 2015, Attorney General Eric H. Holder publicly criticized the Ferguson Police Department …

From Honor To Dignity: Criminal Libel, Press Freedom, And Racist Speech In Brazil And The United States, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Reports on violence against journalists in Brazil have captured media attention and the concern of international organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. Short of violence, other concerns about press freedom have surfaced, such as the successful assertion by public figures of their right to keep unauthorized biographies out of print. The case presented in this article involves another such concern: the use of criminal defamation laws to punish journalists for criticizing public officials. At the same time, Brazilian media sources regularly report on crimes of racism, which most often involve derogatory name-calling and hate …

Until The Cops Come Knocking, Mauricio E. Novoa

SURGE

“Fuck the police coming straight from the underground/ A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown/ And not the other color so police think/ They have the authority to kill a minority” – Ice Cube, “Fuck Tha Police”

At some point in our lives, we have all walked down a street for some minute errand, and a few of those times we may have crossed paths with men in uniform patrolling the streets. Some who cross them may not think anything of it, but for others, they feel their eyes follow every step they take and distaste is exchanged …

The Legal Limits Of Racism, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

When I heard the news that the Food Network decided not to renew Paula Deen’s contract after she admitted to making racist comments, I was happy. Not because she used racial slurs, of course, but because she was punished for it. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I like the idea of public attention being placed on wrongdoings. That’s the whole point of having free speech, after all: to have an open dialogue wherein all possible viewpoints can be voiced, considered, challenged, and criticized until they are ultimately decided to be acceptable or unacceptable. [excerpt]

Racism In The Criminal Justice System, Nichole Griffith

Social Sciences

This paper examines racism in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system creates and perpetuates racial hierarchy in the United States. African Americans are criminalized and targeted because of their skin color. I analyze the Reagan administration, the War on Drugs, corrupt police practices, media, inner city enforcement, police discretion, racial profiling, and sentencing to reveal this racism and unfair treatment of African Americans. These victims of racism face lifelong marginalization and exclusion because they were criminalized. I also draw a link between the criminal justice system and slavery and Jim Crow. This racism explains why there are so …

Ron Paul + Potheads = Racist Dopes, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Ron Paul’s popularity, given his history of racism, is troubling. More troubling, however, is the willingness of his supporters, an odd coalition of one-percenter corporatists and anti-war pothead libertarians, to ignore or excuse these views. Read more: http://artvoice.com/issues/v11n5/getting_a_grip

Activism And Pedagogies: Feminist Reflections, Patricia Ticineto Clough, Michelle Fine

Publications and Research

Together our two essays move between scenes of teaching and researching with women and men who are or have been in prison. Having written on ethnography, autoethnography, and participatory research, we both have sought a method that would allow us to abandon superficial identifications, mistaken for deep connection, with those who are or have been incarcerated. While we are conscious of the failures and successes of our attempts, we nonetheless write because what we have learned about the state's support for mass incarceration and the state's retreat from public higher education—particularly for persons of color—more than warrants it. With this …